April 5, Saturday, day 30: Chilly and hilly

Wow,  I can almost see the end of Texas! We are now in Austin, having bikes nearly 80 miles from Fredericksburg today. It was a cloudy overcast day with temperatures mostly in the 50s and a modest headwind. Reminded me of New England weather.  Five more places over the next six days to complete our sojourn in Texas.

The Texas Hill country is known for its Bluebonnet flowers in the spring. The sides of the road and fields are covered in them!

There were large groups of college students riding the same route today. It turns out they are training for a bicycling trip from Austin Texas to Alaska this summer, over 4000 miles in 70 days, 80 riders. They will be raising money for the Livestrong foundation. They were as excited to hear about WomanTours and the Southern Tier as I was hearing about their planned adventure.

We ended the day at a restaurant, celebrating the birthday of one of our group. The birthday girl is in the teal jacket and the magenta tiara. Our resident poet was reading a birthday poem to her.

I have no idea what this represents, but it was hanging over a mirror in the restaurant.  It could be me, expressing frustration because I got a smoking room tonight in the hotel. Aargh!

With the exception of the hotel room, I had a great day today. It was chilly, hilly, and silly.  After the first 40 or so miles, I really got my legs going and just cruised the rest of the way.